Neil J. RubenkingG Data Total SecurityG Data Total Security adds bonus features beyond the company's entry-level suite, but component quality varies, and many features haven't evolved in the last couple years.

Password manager features very limited. Poor antiphishing score. Firewall could be hacked. Useless parental control. Device control may confuse the average user.

Bottom Line

G Data Total Security adds bonus features beyond the company's entry-level suite, but component quality varies, and many features haven't evolved in the last couple years.

Most security companies offer protection at three levels: a standalone antivirus utility, an entry-level security suite with the expected suite features, and an enhanced mega-suite bursting with bonus features. Typical mega-suite add-ons are a backup system and a system tune-up utility. G Data Total Security gives you those, as well as encrypted storage, a basic password manager, and more. These added features make it a more interesting choice than G Data's entry-level suite, but they don't seem to have evolved in the last couple of years.

You pay $69.95 per year for a single Total Security license, $79.95 for three licenses, or $99.95 for five. That same price gets you five Kaspersky licenses, and for five Bitdefender licenses you pay $10 less than G Data charges. In addition, where the advanced feature sets in these two mega-suites overlap G Data's, they just work better.

If you need to protect a ton of devices, on multiple platforms, Norton gives you 10 licenses for $109.99, a good deal on a per-device basis. Kaspersky Security Cloud gives you 20 licenses for $149.99, which is an even better deal. G Data doesn't focus on cross-platform protection the way these two do.

This suite's main window features a bold red banner across the top, with a menu of icons to open configuration and status for various security features. The main Security Center page displays overall status, with links to get more detailed information and make changes to settings. The difference with Total Security is the addition of four more icons in the top menu, corresponding to the features added in the mega-suite.

Shared With Antivirus

Naturally this mega-suite includes all the features of G Data Antivirus. You can read that review for full details; I'll summarize here.

Two of the four antivirus labs that I follow include G Data in their tests and reports. In the real-world attack simulation tests by SE Labs, G Data took AA certification, the second-highest of five possible levels. That's good, but a half-dozen other products managed AAA certification. G Data's score of 16 points with AV-Test Institute is third from lowest; nine products managed to either a perfect 18 points or a near-perfect 17.5.

In my hands-on malware protection, G Data detected 97 percent of the samples and earned 9.5 of 10 possible points. Only Webroot has done better against the current sample set, scoring a perfect 10.

G Data didn't do as well in my malicious URL blocking test, which uses a feed of URLs recently observed in the wild by researchers at MRG-Effitas. Its 90 percent protection sounds good, but over a dozen products have done better. Notably, Norton and Bitdefender got to 99 percent, and McAfee came close with 97 percent.

On the plus side, Exploit Protection blocked many exploits and identified most of them by name; few products have done better. However, tested with other protective layers disabled, the ransomware protection component proved only half effective, at best.

The antispam component doesn't have an overwhelming set of configuration options, which is fine for most users. It filters POP3 and IMAP email accounts, and includes the option to whitelist or blacklist specific addresses or domains. Other bonus features include protection for financial transactions, defense against keyloggers, and a tool to manager programs that auto-launch at startup.

G Data's simple firewall passed my port scan tests and other Web-based tests. By default, its program control component allows outbound network traffic but blocks unsolicited inbound connections. When I enabled its interactive mode, it popped up queries for all manner of programs, including popular browsers. In addition, I found a technique that malware coders could use to disable G Data's protection programmatically.

In the entry-level suite, the online backup system can only store backups in third-party cloud storage accounts. As I'll explain below, the full mega-suite expands your backup options.

The parental control system just filters unwanted content and limits screen time. It doesn't do either well, and it hasn't improved since my previous review, nearly two years ago. The keyword-based filter blocks valid sites, misses raunchy ones, and can't handle secure anonymizing proxies without blocking every secure site, including PCMag.com. Norton Family and Kaspersky Safe Kids (supplied with the corresponding top-tier suites) are vastly better. A file shredder component rounds out this suite's feature collection.

G Data seemed to make my performance tests run faster, not slower, a fact I confirmed by uninstalling the suite and re-running the baseline tests. Webroot, Bitdefender, and adaware antivirus total also didn't slow any of the tests.

Enhanced Backup

At first glance, the backup system in Total Security doesn't look any different than in Internet Security. As in the entry-level suite, it's empty until you click New Task to create a backup job. However, with Total Security you can choose full drive backup in addition to the file-based backup found in Internet Security. If you do choose to back up a whole drive, you get a drive selector instead of the folder tree used for file-based backup.

On the Target selection page, you now have options other than backing up to third-party cloud storage. You can now select any local, network, or removable drive as the backup target. This option is especially important for full drive backups, as cloud storage isn't supported. Kaspersky Total Security offers a similar collection of targets, including your cloud storage account.

You get the same options for scheduling daily, weekly, or monthly backups. However, on the final page of options, several choices that were disabled in the entry-level suite are now available, including the ability to test backups for integrity.

G Data's backup system is comprehensive, allowing both file-specific and full-drive backup. However, it still doesn't do as much as some competing products. Norton and Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete in particular give you 25GB of online storage for your backups, and include the ability to back up file changes as they occur.

Limited Password Manager

To start using the password manager, you create a password safe that will securely hold your data, or import an existing safe. Next, you create a strong master password that you can remember but that others couldn't guess or crack. G Data rates password strength as you type using a color-coded meter, and it's a tough judge. To max out the strength meter, I had to use a password of almost 80 characters, using all four types. In practical terms, a password that gets into the green should be good enough.

Next, you click to install plug-ins for the browsers you use; G Data supports Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. I found the Firefox plugin marked "Experimental" and added by "Firefox user 11068066," which didn't really inspire confidence. However, it installed without trouble.

The password manager plug-in captures login credentials as you sign in to secure sites—or at least, it tries to. As I found in my testing, it doesn't capture the sort of two-page logins that Gmail and Yahoo use. It doesn't capture credentials from several sites with non-standard logins, including the website for Symantec Norton Security Premium, nor can it capture more than one login for the same site. G Data tech support confirmed these limitations at the time of my previous review; nothing seems to have changed.

You can also create one or more business cards, collections of personal information for filling Web forms. The process isn't automated; you must click the plug-in's toolbar button, click Business Cards, and select the desired card. In testing I found it filled some, but not all, of the limited information provided. It skipped the first name, filled in USA for the state, and entered the main phone number on the Fax line, omitting other numbers.

Want to use your saved passwords on another device? Sorry, while syncing across devices is a common feature in standalone password manager utilities, it's not something G Data does. You don't get two-factor authentication, secure file sharing, or other advanced features.

If you really want a suite that includes password management, Kaspersky offers a decent collection of password management features. Bitdefender Wallet, while closer to G Data in the extent of its features, is easier to use. Or choose a top-tier free password manager; the best ones seriously outperform G Data.

System Tuner

When I tested G Data's impact on system performance, all three of my tests ran faster with the suite installed, even on repeated testing. On top of that, G Data's Tuner component performs dozens of tweaks to further tune up your PC, organized into three categories: Security, Performance, and Privacy.

Under Security are settings tweaks designed to close security holes. For example, it can enable SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer, set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders, and make sure User Account Protection is turned on. The security tweaks all look good, though disabling Java in browsers might interfere with some outdated websites.

Just over half the tweaks fall into the Performance category. Many of these speed access to the Registry by deleting invalid items. Others delete things like temporary files and most recent file lists. You'll probably want to disable the option to defragment all disks, running it separately when you have plenty of time to spare.

As noted, deleting some most-used file lists falls under Performance, but in the Data protection category you'll find many more. The point is to wipe out traces of browser and computer actions that could reveal too much about your habits. Other privacy-related items eliminate history, cookies, cached files, and other browser-related items.

When you launch a tuning run, G Data works its way through the list, highlighting the current item and displaying a simple explanation for that item. I found that even without the defrag task, the tuner's analysis took about eight minutes. Note that it doesn't take action immediately; after the scan you get a chance to view what it found and the option to skip some of the tweaks. Just go ahead and let it make all changes; in the unlikely event a problem arises, you can roll back the entire tuning run, or choose individual items to restore. Once you're happy with the tuner, you can configure it to run automatically on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Separate from the main Tuner process is the Browser Cleaner. This tool lists the extensions installed in your browsers. Yes, that's something you can also do in each browser, but having everything in one place is handy.

G Data's Tuner goes well beyond the simplistic cleanup offered by some competing products. However, Bitdefender offers an even larger collection of tune-up tools, and Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Extreme presents you with a comprehensive optimization tool licensed from Large Software.

Encryption for File Protection

If you're working on your resumé in preparation for quitting your job, or drawing up plans for world domination, you don't want anyone else looking at your documents. Putting them into encrypted storage keeps them safe from prying eyes. Like many of its competitors, G Data lets you create one or more encrypted volumes to protect those files.

An assistant walks you through the steps of creating a new encrypted storage safe. At the first step, you choose the location and size for the file representing the safe. The default size is all remaining disk space; you'll probably want to reduce that. You can also choose from a list including the size of a CD, the size of a DVD, and so on.

At the next step, you name your safe (no more than 10 characters) and optionally give it a description. You can also choose the file system (NTFS or FAT32), or let G Data automatically decide. And you can password-protect the safe, giving different users differing degrees of access and control.

With those choices made, you click Create to create and format the safe. By default, G Data then opens the safe, which looks and acts like any other disk drive. The formatting difficulties I encountered during my previous review have been fixed, fortunately.

As with Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and others, the capacity of the safe is fixed at creation. The similar feature in Trend Micro Maximum Security works a bit differently. You get just one safe, which grows as needed, and you can remotely seal the safe so that a hacker can't open it even with the password.

In the real world, you wouldn't put your top-secret patent documents in a safe without shredding any other copies. For maximum security of the files you put into your G Data safe, you should first copy the file and then use G Data's file shredder to securely delete the original. Kaspersky goes even further, offering to delete originals as part of the process of creating the safe.

G Data can also create a read-only mobile safe on a removable drive or even a CD/DVD. It does so by copying the contents of an existing safe, which naturally must be small enough to fit on the destination drive. The option to create a safe matching a specific media size makes sense now!

If you plan to open the safe on a PC that doesn't have G Data installed, you'll need to add a few driver files; the assistant handles copying those. ESET Smart Security Premium also lets you create a portable safe but because it's read/write it must go on a USB drive, not optical media.

Many other security suites include a similar encryption system. I do like the fact that G Data lets you define access for multiple users at different access levels.

Device Control for Techies

Hey, how lucky! You found a USB drive in the parking lot! Sure, you're smart enough to refrain from plugging that device into your computer, but your kids (or employees) may not be. It's true that the internet is the primary propagation path for malware, but removable devices have their place. For that matter, a snoop could copy your sensitive files to a removable device. G Data's full-featured device control offers full and fine-grained control over access to connected devices.

To start using device control, you define rules for USB drives, CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, and webcams. You can ban the device type entirely, or (as appropriate) force read-only access. Then you define exceptions for specific users or, in the case of USB drives, specific devices. You can also set an expiry date for any rule, if you wish.

Now you can block access to USB drives in general, but add exceptions for those you use yourself. That means a kid (or employee) can't infect the network by mounting a random USB drive. Or you could make the DVD drive read-only, but make an exception for your own user account so you can create DVDs.

Do note that any user with an Administrator account can create an exception, which you may not want. In that case, you'll have to password protect G Data's settings. When you do, you no longer get a popup to create exceptions, but you can still dig into settings and edit permissions for any active device. With device control in Avira Prime, any user can create exceptions even when settings are password-protected; G Data does it better.

As with the similar feature in ESET, using device control requires more effort than the average consumer is likely to expend. In a small business setting, though, it can be valuable. Many business-specific security products include some form of device control, among them those from Trend Micro, Bitdefender, and McAfee.

Bonuses Galore

G Data Total Security expands on the features of G Data's entry-level suite with an impressive collection of bonus tools. However, like the basic suite features, these haven't evolved in the last couple years. Password management is limited, but system tune-up goes beyond the basics, and the encrypted file storage system offers uncommon flexibility. If you're determined to buy G Data, this mega-suite is your best choice.

However, other mega-suites offer quite a bit more in the way of advanced features, along with top-quality basic suite features. Our Editors' Choice for security mega-suite is Bitdefender Total Security. If what you want is a cross-platform multi-device suite, we have two Editors' Choice products, Kaspersky Security Cloud and Symantec Norton Security Premium.

Sub-Ratings:Note: These sub-ratings contribute to a product's overall star rating, as do other factors, including ease of use in real-world testing, bonus features, and overall integration of features.Firewall: Antivirus: Performance: Privacy: Parental Control:

G Data Total Security

good

Bottom Line: G Data Total Security adds bonus features beyond the company's entry-level suite, but component quality varies, and many features haven't evolved in the last couple years.

About the Author

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted b... See Full Bio

G Data Total Security

G Data Total Security

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